The Navy has ordered an additional Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer from General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, the Bath, Maine, shipbuilder announced on Thursday.
The order is an option exercised from a multiyear shipbuilding contract awarded in 2023.
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are multi-mission warships designed for anti-air, anti-submarine, and anti-surface warfare.
The new 509'6"x59' warship will be the USS Kyle Carpenter (DDG-148), named after the youngest living Medal of Honor recipient.
“I appreciate the efforts of our team to improve the construction process and build to the plan. We are clawing back schedule so we can deliver more Bath-built ships to our Navy," said Charles F. Krugh, president of Bath Iron Works, a business unit of General Dynamics. "I would also like to acknowledge and thank our Congressional delegation who added this ship to the Fiscal Year 2025 Defense Appropriations Bill.”
Funding for the new destroyer was secured in the Fiscal Year 2024 and 2025 appropriations spending packages. Bath Iron Works then competed to receive the contract.
“This destroyer will enhance our national security, protect good-paying Maine jobs, and provide long-term stability for the highly skilled men and women at BIW. As global threats continue to grow, investing in a strong and capable Navy is more important than ever,” Sen. Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement.
Bath Iron Works has under construction the Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (DDG 124) and USS Patrick Gallagher (DDG 127), as well as the Flight III configuration destroyers USS Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG 126), USS William Charette (DDG 130), USS Quentin Walsh (DDG 132), USS John E. Kilmer (DDG 134), and USS Richard G. Lugar (DDG 136).
